Maximising the impact of house modification with eave tubes for malaria control in Africa

Insecticide-treated eave tubes represent a new tool to dramatically reduce malaria in Africa, where these were recently evaluated in a cluster ran-domised controlled trial (RCT) funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation [1]. The technology includes simple pieces of PVC piping, and their installation in otherwise closed eaves under the roof, which form the primary entry point for mala-ria mosquitoes into houses [2] (Figure 1). Given that the trial in Côte d’Ivoire, also included screen-ing of windows, WHO’s Vector Control Advisory Group (VCAG) has dubbed the combined approach ‘lethal house lure’ [3]. Eave tubes, in essence, turn the entire house into a ‘lure and kill’ station, pro-viding protection for everyone inside. Netting in-serts, treated with insecticide, result in mosquitoes being killed upon contact when trying to enter the house through the tubes that funnel the indoor human-scented air outwards, luring host-seeking mosquitoes